Discover America 2025

Aside from the spectacular natural wonders earlier in my trip, today was the highlight of my journey so far. I drove to Saint Louis and first stopped off at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, which was on just about every list of the most beautiful churches in America. I immediately saw why. From the outside, the church is architecturally impressive. I arrived fifteen minutes before 10:00 AM Sunday Mass, so I was still able to enter the church and take a few photos. It was clear many visitors came from out of town for the same purpose, as a few others were also taking pictures.

This very large church was completed in 1914 and is known for its large mosaic installation and for its burial crypts. The interior has a number of features based on Russian designs. In fact, it incorporates the largest mosaic collection in the world outside of Russia. The basement of the church has a mini-museum which explains the construction history and the mosaic development process.

I left the church and wanted to visit the Gateway Arch National Park which overlooks the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, there was no place to park my camper, so the best I could do was drive by and view it from a block away. It was still impressive.

I then crossed over the Mississippi River into Illinois and drove to Springfield, where I visited the highlight of the trip – the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. I went on a thirty-minute group tour led by a park employee. She did a magnificent job, and I learned a great deal about Lincoln. The site essentially preserves two blocks of Lincoln’s neighborhood where he lived for 17 years with his family before he was elected president and moved to Washington. Among the interesting facts I learned were:

• He bought the house for $1500 from a friend. At the time, it was a one-story home and he added the second story over time.
• The kitchen, although very small, was as big as his entire boyhood home, as he grew up in an incredibly poor family.
• He loved animals, especially dogs and cats, and had multiple pets in the home.
• He had NO formal schooling, learning the law from his own self-study, and passing the Illinois Bar exam on his first try.
• He was a very successful lawyer, essentially becoming an upper-middle class resident.
• He essentially did no personal campaigning (for President) but deferred to friends and other politicians to do the campaigning.
• He did not attend the Republican Convention in Chicago and accepted the nomination from a delegation from the convention in the parlor of his home.
• He rented his home to a friend when he was elected, because he had always intended to return after his stint as president.

Almost all the furniture and artifacts were the originals, including a Stereoscope (precursor to the ViewMaster) which he bought for $20 for his family as an educational toy. The bed in the home was a recreation, because the person who rented his home bought the bed and brought it with him to Chicago when he moved, whereupon it was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire.

Eventually Lincoln’s only surviving son Robert became the sole owner of the family home and maintained it as rental property. In 1887 he donated the home to the people of Illinois, who preserved it as a memorial for 85 years. The Lincoln Home officially became a National Historic Site in 1972.

I drove past the State Capitol Building and then left Springfield towards my campsite at the Starved Rock State Park closer to Chicago.

Posted photos include two of the St. Louis cathedral, and the rest from the Lincoln home, including the kitchen (with the original oven) and the “family room,” including the original Stereoscope on the table. The wallpaper in that room was consistent with what was throughout the home which were recreations from the wallpaper the Lincolns purchased from France.